Proton may not be heard in the western world as much as it used to, but the Malaysian automaker continues to churn out a range of models for markets in South East Asia and has a long and rich history in motorsport.
Now, the Proton has made the unexpected announcement that it will return to the World Rally Championship in 2018 with a race-prepped Iriz R5 built by British squad MEM.
MEM previously worked with Proton in building the Satria-based rally cars which claimed titles in the Asia-Pacific series. With the new Iriz R5, MEM intends on competing in both WRC2 and the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship.
Speaking about the model with Motorsport, the man behind MEM, Chris Mellors, said that the Iriz has the perfect shape for rallying.
“We started looking at this with Proton last year and straight away we were excited by what we saw with the road car. The size and shape of the Iriz is perfect for rallying. Everything is in the right place: the overall length of the car is shorter than the Satria, but the wheelbase is longer; the strut tops are in just the right place; there’s lots of frontal area which is great for cooling,” he said.
Powering the rally-spec Iriz R5 will be a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X engine brought down to 1,600 cc. The car will also use an Xtrac transmission, Brembo brakes, Cosworth electronics and Reiger dampers.
The car will be revealed at next month’s Goodwood Festival of Speed.
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